


Retrying the War

by HopelessRomanticist (orphan_account)



Category: Fate/stay night, Fate/stay night (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Canon Compliant, Early Work, F/M, Fanfiction, Friendship, Relationship(s), Romance, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-04-24
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-18 14:34:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/HopelessRomanticist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My...reaction to Fate route's end: WTH WAS THAT!?<br/>What I'm going to do about it: Forcibly send Shirou back in time to the moment he summoned Saber. Let things roll from there.</p><p>Notes: Expect some OOCness, and (probably) a horrible death for Kirei and/or Zouken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction: Are you my Master?

**Author's Note:**

> AN: So, I play several hours, and watch 24 episodes of a slowly building relationship, and then... THAT happens. That…ending. Sure, I get far too emotionally attached to characters, and that I am a (as my name indicates) Hopeless Romanticist, but really? That gorram bittersweet ending where no-one ends up truly happy? At least NGE’s ending ended with the world destroyed. I mean, it was sorta depressing, but at least you knew where everyone was (all but two people were orange juice).
> 
> So I decided that I was going to pull a time travel fic on everyone. And not just any time travel fic. I’ve run into a few “Shirou to the past to help out in Camelot” (Read Arkueid’s ‘Turning Back the Pendulum’ on Fanfiction.net. It is awesome), several “Saber goes back to the future to live with Shirou” but actually no “Shirou goes back to the start of the story”. Two ‘Rin goes back to the past as Sakura’s Magus Servant’ though, which surprised me.
> 
> And yes, this does mean Shirou will be rather more powerful and *snicker* more intelligent than he was at the start. The problem is that at the end of the anime show, his power level isn’t really defined. (He stabs a priest with someone else’s dagger, and activates the magic built into the blade. Not all that much there...) So unless I get objections, I’m going to say that he is less powerful than he was in the UBW movie. He’s not going to use Conjuration/Projection off the bat, either, as that would leave...uncomfortable questions.
> 
> Not everything will be 100% canonical (I just discovered FSN a few weeks ago, and I’m not all that big a researcher), and I’m trying a new method for this fic (Don’t plan every little detail out. Allow myself room to change my plot as it goes). Also, this will be my first try at anything other than a oneshot.
> 
> Oh, and I don’t own FSN or any characters. You’ve read my views on the ending. Do you really think I had anything to do with it? (This disclaimer applies to this, and all subsequent chapters. Just in case I forget to write it out every chapter.)
> 
> I promise that this WILL be the shortest chapter, and longest AN in the story. Sorry for this...
> 
> "Speech"  
> 'Italics'=Thoughts

"As your sword, I have slain your enemies and protected you at every turn, I am glad I was able to carry out that oath."

"And as my sword, you were amazing." ‘ _Please, don’t leave me.’_

Master and Servant fell silent. Shirou could hardly breathe. Why did it have to be this way? He had protected everyone, except the one he cared about the most. Just how cruel was this world? The one time he wished to be selfish…He shook himself out of his reflections as Saber, no, Arturia, began to speak. At the very least, he could remember her.

"There's something I must tell you before I go…"

Saber turned to Shirou while her eyes were still closed. The wind was blowing her hair which made her even more beautiful; truly the image of a goddess.

“Shirou...I love you”

Before Saber was able to finish what she was saying, she opened her eyes and looked at the person who had once been her Master, her student, her lover. She smiled at him for the last time, trying to covey through her eyes what she did not -could not- say.

 _‘Goodbye, my love. Forever.’_

The sunrise brightly behind Saber, and Shirou cursed the halo of light as it forced him to close his eyes. When he opened them, Arturia was gone. The grass that she had been standing on slowly unbent, and so the last of Saber’s presence in the world vanished. He looked at the sunset with a somewhat bitter smile on his lips as he softly said, "Of course, that's just like you."

He stared at the sunset for a time. It was both the most beautiful and most hated sight he had ever beheld. Seconds of silence turned to minutes, and finally the boy shook his head once more and turned towards home. A sigh escaped his lips.

“I need to go back.”

 The words were completely unintentional. Looking back on them, he wasn’t even sure what he had meant: did he mean to say that he wished he could go back with her to Camelot? Did he mean to say that he wished he was home? Either way, the single statement had immense, unintended consequences.

A single drop of black ooze levitated itself up behind Shirou and a sickly sweet voice, a voice that carried a promise of corruption and desolation and assistance at a price; a price far too high for any sane being, floated through the air.

“As you wish, Champion”

For despite the best efforts of Arturia, the King of Knights, not even Excalibur’s powers were enough to completely destroy the cruel, ancient artefact known as the Grail. Her powers had burnt away much of the cursed cup, but even the drop that remained had enough powers to grant a wish, and enough of the Grail’s cursed ‘personality’ to manipulate the wish to cause as much destruction as it could.

And what could cause more destruction than the death of time itself?

Shirou was turning when the black drop expanded, covering him like an oily shroud. His body collapsed as the Grail pushed him to the ground and screamed when it began to shrink, crushing his body to a point beyond existence.

With a pop, Shirou vanished from time, and the world where he had once lived simply disappeared from existence, as time itself was rewritten.

###############

Shirou opened his eyes, finding himself on the floor. A very _familiar_ floor. He knew where he was instantly: he had spent many hours here practicing his conjuration, and this was the place where he had first met Saber. The blue light in the building was the same as it had been that nig-

Hold on.

The light was exactly the same, and on the ground in front of him was a runic circle that was still glowing with the after-effects of the magic that had just been forced through it. And his eyes were drawn up to the figure in silver armour looking down on him with green eyes he had last seen bidding him goodbye. Shirou was stunned speechless, and as such gave the universe a little joke, as he was once again too shocked to respond to the question posed by the goddess before him.

“I am Saber, your Servant. I have come in response to your summons. I ask you...are you my Master?”

 _‘What the hell is going on here!?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: heheheheh. Reviews? I know I’m not the best author, but any review boosts my morale, even if it’s just a criticism. Like to know people are reading my stuff. I need encouragement to write.


	2. Chapter One: Lancer and Archer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not too much happening this chapter. The first action scene, which I am not all that happy with... As the title suggests, this is mostly Saber vs Lancer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: As normal, I own exactly 0% of Fate Stay Night. I would be willing to buy it though. Contact me if you own FSN and are interested in selling it for a few hundred dollars. Provided you let me rewrite the ending of the Fate route so that there is both a True and Good ending. Every other route gets one, but for Fate’s Good route you have to die in 40 different ways, and complete EVERY other ending (Fate’s True, UBW’s Good and True, and HF’s Good and True). DAMNIT, GAME!
> 
> “Speaking”  
> ‘Thoughts’  
> “*TECHNIQUES*”

Previously: The end of a dream, a wish is made, “Are you my Master?”

“I am Saber, your Servant. I have come in response to your summons. I ask you...are you my Master?”

 _‘What the hell is going on here!?’_

###############

Shirou’s thoughts flew at a million miles an hour.

Somehow, he had gone back in time. Back to when he had first summoned Saber all those nights ago. How and why weren’t important right now, what mattered was that he could change _everything!_ He could stop unnecessary deaths, he could end the Grail Tourney before it began, and he could _save_ Saber. Even if this was only a dream, a sleep-deprived fantasy caused by his mind collapsing he owed it to himself and Saber to try and change as much as he could. He almost collapsed as the full scope of what was possible revealed itself. But should he? Could he really abandon this portion of his morals to selfishness?

“I ask again. Are you my Master?”

Shirou clenched his hands at the cool, impersonal tone in Arturia’s voice, but managed to keep his own steady as he raised his hand, showing the command spells to the beautiful knight before him.  He looked up, and saw Saber’s face, and for a half-second saw her lying on the ground after the first fight with Gilgamesh. Her struggling to support herself after the encounter with Berserker. That was when he decided that he would change what he could.

“That command mantra proves you are indeed my Master.”

Saber’s eyes flashed with fire and determination, and Shirou had to restrain himself from throwing himself at her. _‘That would NOT make a good first impression. Better to try and keep calm and see what I can remember of tonight...’_

 “From here on, my blade rests in your hands, and your destiny rests in my hands. Our contract is now complete”

 _‘Tonight was the encounter with Lancer-‘_

“It appears that our enemy is still on the premises.”

 _‘Something happened. Something important. What WAS it?’_

“Master, you wait here.”

‘ _Gáe Bolg! Saber’s injury! It was only due to luck that she survived last time, and my change might have already...no. This is one of the things I can change. I can’t leave this to chance!’_

Shirou grabbed the knight’s gauntlet as she moved towards the exit of the warehouse. Surprised, Saber stopped long enough for Shirou to get to his feet and bring his mouth up to the level of her ear.

“He tried to stab me with an attack called Gáe Bolg.”

Saber turned to look incredulously at her Master.He had survived Cú Chulainn’s deadly spear? And had enough presence of mind to tell her afterwards?

“I thank you, my Master. Please, stay back. I will defeat our enemy, and we will triumph in the Grail War.”

With that, Saber spun and left the building, and Shirou collapsed again.

 _‘This time, things will be different. I swear it!’_

With that thought, Shirou began to plan.

###############

The two blue clad warriors faced off in the yard. Lancer rested on his red spear, and raised his hand to his mouth, pretending to yawn. Of course, Servant’s didn’t really get sleepy, but Lancer was just attempting to annoy the Servant before him. His master had sent him on a recon mission, but really what were the chances of this whole scenario playing out as it had? A duel with an Archer who used swords, killing a human only for the human to come back and summon Saber just when he was about to be killed again.

 _‘Life sure can be bizarre.’_

“It’s getting pretty late. You sure you don’t want to save this fight till next time? You’ve got a novice of a master in there, and you might want to be fully prepared before taking me on.”

Saber’s eyes checked the yard out, searching for any hidden foes. Finally her eyes settled on her opponent’s weapon. Better that she keep track of the deadly lance than look at her opponent. She silently thanked her Master for giving her the ace she needed against this opponent.

“...I refuse. After two servants have crossed paths, it is necessary that only one remain standing.”

White teeth seemed to shine as Lancer grinned in anticipation. _This_ was why he loved combat, the intoxicating feeling of two people fighting desperately to the death, with the strongest surviving while the weak perishing. His feet shifted slightly, and under Saber’s gaze the lance tip jumped slightly upwards. Not enough to be normally noticeable, but certainly enough to be threatening. Her hands seemed to clasp air, almost as if clutching a sword. Two identical thoughts from the warriors

 _‘I am ready. I will triumph.’_

Lancer spoke, seemingly bored, but under Saber’s eye the spearpoint jumped ever so slightly towards her again. Each second the head was a fraction closer to its ‘unsuspecting’ target.

“Ah well, just wanted to give you a chance-“

Lancer charged, bringing his spear up the small distance needed to line it up with the other Servant’s heart. 

“-After all, you haven’t even got a weapon ready!”

Saber didn’t seem to react as the Lancer charged, but as he drew close she blazed into motion. She struck downwards with her hands, and the air moved as if she were holding a longsword. Her parry deflected the spear into the ground, and her sword slid up the shaft of the spear in an attempt to cut off the fingers clasping the weapon. Unfortunately for her, Lancer seemed to get over the fact he had been parried invisibly rather fast, and twisted his spear so that the sword stroke slipped up into the air, missing his hand.

“Tcht! An invisible blade?”

He didn’t get time to continue, as his opponent took advantage of her raised sword to bring a hammer-like blow down on his head.  Lancer raised his weapon in a desperate attempt to parry, and was thrown backwards for his efforts, lance ringing with the just-warded blow.  He landed with a back flip, but only in time to catch a stab heading at his heart. Thanks to her Master, Saber knew that if Cú Chulainn got enough distance, he would be able to kill her in one attack. Better not to let him have the opportunity. Lancer again skidded backwards, and began to feel excitement for the first time since his summoning.

 _‘How did a scouting mission change to a fight for my life? Heh, at least it’s more interesting’_

The pair danced back and forth for several rounds. Chulainn tried to keep Saber at a distance, exploiting his spear’s reach. However, a spear was probably the worst weapon against an invisible weapon. A spear was a precise tool. The head is the main danger, so if the enemy got past it... and with an invisible weapon on the opponent the spear-wielder would have no idea just how close he was to having his spear knocked away...

Saber, on the other hand, was intent as getting as close as possible to Lancer. She ducked under a stab at her head and flicked her blade, making the spear jump skywards. She charged forwards as her opponent retreated rapidly, but not quite rapidly enough.

 _‘I have you now-‘_

She rolled just in time. Her foe had brought down his spear in an attempt to bludgeon her with the shaft. She almost cursed. With a spear-wielder as experienced as her current foe ANY part of the spear could dangerous. While the head remained the most deadly, the shaft was a staff to parry and strike with and the reverse end could kill as easily as the head if it hit the neck or nose or eyes. How on earth could she have forgotten such a basic rule against spearmen?

Lancer finally had some of the distance he desperately needed, and took the opportunity to jump back onto the fence surrounding the property. He balanced there, and Saber stopped moving, keeping her eyes trained on the blood-red spear. Normally she would have given her opponent the respect of looking at their eyes, but with this weapon...

“Let me ask you one thing, Servant. What is your weapon? It’s a sword, right?”

Saber kept her eyes from wavering as she spoke. She heard her Master pull himself up with the doorpost of the warehouse, and instinctively moved a half-step to the right, putting herself between her enemy and her Master. While surviving _Gáe Bolg_ was no easy feat _(she had to admit that chances were high that even she would have fallen before the spear without the warning)_ it was not a thing that should be repeated. Best not to let her Master have to repeat it by killing her foe now.

“It does not matter what weapon I have. I will defeat you myself, hear and now, for daring to injure my master.”

###############

Shirou watched as the two great warriors fought. Something was...different this time. Finally, he picked up on it. He was keeping up with their movements. No longer was everything a blur. He could see openings in attacks that were exploited, he saw how Saber held herself warily, far far more cautious this time thanks to his warning. He let out a sigh of relief at this. She might be able to avoid injury completely, but he did hope that Lancer didn’t die, especially after the last time they had seen him...

A cruel figure in gold armour surrounded by thousands of weapons, and a single man in blue with a red lance standing between him and the fleeing duo.

He snapped out of the past as he heard Saber shout her challenge.

“If you used your lance as you did your tongue, you might be an almost-challenging opponent!”

Lancer burst out laughing, still on his position on the fence. He raised his red spear in a mock salute, and cried aloud:

“Very well, I’ll use this lance of mine. *GAE-“

And suddenly Saber was moving. She had worked out her opponent’s plan, and her taunt had merely tricked him into where he was now.

“Like hell I’d let you, Cú Chulainn!”

Lancer stumbled at hearing his name, and his face showed a burst of absolute surprise for a moment.

 _‘How on earth?’_

“*INVISIBLE AIR!*”

The windstorm swept from Saber’s blade into Lancer’s feet, sending him flying off his precarious perch. Saber flew forwards in an attempt to strike down her foe before he could regain his footing, and the battle was over in that one strike. Her blade bit deeply into her enemy’s chest, a deadly wound for a human but merely dangerous for a Servant. Cú Chulainn was sent flying into the air, bounced once on the ground, before leaping backwards into the air, fleeing back towards his Master. No way on earth he could defeat such an opponent without a surprise attack, and even then not in his current condition. And with Saber somehow knowing his true identity...

###############

Saber watched her opponent flee with disappointment.

 _‘Damn. He escaped. But at least I am uninjured and able to continue to protect my Master.’_

She turned towards her Master, only to see him already by her side, looking at where the fleeing Servant had vanished to. Noticing her glance, he quickly turned to her and gave a smile.

“You were brilliant...”

Shirou trailed off, giving the impression that he didn’t know her name. _‘Damnit, this facade is so hard to maintain. But if I said I was from the future things would get very, very complicated. And there would be no way of swaying Arturia away from her wish.’_ His ruse worked, and Saber began introducing herself, by her title instead of name, obviously.

Saber, though, felt something deeper was meant in his statement. It almost felt as if he was not only talking about her actions in the battle, but also talking about her whole life. It was the words she had longed to hear when King, but never came. Shirou’s tone seemed to convey his admiration of every aspect of life she had led.

She gave herself a mental kick. This was no time to wishfully read emotions into simple statements of gratitude. _‘You do not deserve gratitude, not yet. So stop searching for it in your imagination and earn it!’_ Still, she could not shake off the strange feeling that her Master knew her inner struggle...

“Servant Saber, my Master.”

“You did brilliantly, Saber. Though I was worried when he began to shout;Gae Bolg, was it? Was he Irish? But who...I hope I don’t offend you, but who was he, and who are you?”

“I am the Servant you summoned to participate in the most holy of Tourneys, the Grail War.”

Shirou remembered to stutter “B-But what is the ‘Grail War’. And what does it mean to be a ‘Servant?’ I... you just appeared after I was about to die from that man...”

Saber’s eyes darkened for a moment. “You really don’t know anything? Even though you gave me the warning?”

 _‘An inexperienced Master? This could be...harder than I had anticipated. At least he has not proven himself to be a burden.’_

“About Gae Bolg? He shouted that it meant the ‘Heart Seeking Spear’ or something, and-“ Here Shirou scratched his head, trying to act nervously. And give his hands something to do other than embracing the woman before him. _‘Hormones. Hate them or love them, they are part your biology.’_ “-I know some general mythology. Nothing special. Greek and English mostly. ” _‘Thank you, Rin’_

Saber felt that...something...was off even as her Master talked, but he had no reason to lie, and her feeling was only that. She decided to dismiss her worries for the moment, and answered as best she could.

“Very well. The Grail War is a duel to the death between seven Masters and seven summoned Servants. The prize of the tourney is the wish-giving Grail. Whoever obtains the Grail may have a single wish granted. We Servants serve our Masters as familiars and weapons. We exist for the purpose of fighting other Masters and their Servants. As you have no doubt worked out, you have been chosen to be a Master, and I am your Servant.”

Shirou almost interrupted Saber as she talked about the Grail in such glowing terms. He held himself in check, trying to remember again what happened this night. After the fight with Lancer, something else had happened. Something very important. But his previous thought about the Grail kept intruding.

 _‘It’s a weapon, an instrument of murder that draws on suffering to destroy. Hardly a holy artefact, unless you are a psychotic madman like Kirei...’_

Saber swivelled quickly, and even as she spoke Shirou remembered.

 _‘Rin and Archer! Shit!’_

“Master, I sense a new presence-“

“Saber, wai-!”

“We will talk later!”

And she vanished, speeding to where Shirou remembered Archer was just about to appear. He chased after her. It was probably too late to stop Archer being wounded, but he had to save Rin at least. Her fate had been uncertain enough last time, so she was his second priority after Saber. But if the uninjured Saber was too fast...

“DAMNIT! How did I forget?”

###############

Shirou rounded the corner at a dead run. As he turned the corner, he saw Saber bring her blade across Archer’s left half of his body, almost separating his arm from his torso.

 _‘Of course she’s stronger.  Saber wasn’t wounded so she’s still at basically full strength!’_

Archer vanished, and Saber turned towards the figure he knew was Rin, who raised her hand and cast a wind spell in an attempt to stave off the Servant. Saber ignored the spell and drew back her blade. _‘The more things change...’_

“SABER! STOP. Stay your hand!”

Saber froze, mid-blow, and Rin turned incredulously towards Shirou, as did Saber.

“Master, what are you doing? She’s our enem-“

“No. Stand down, Saber. I won't, can't allow you to kill her!”

“What are you SAYING? She’s a Master. An enemy that must be defeated at ANY cost!”

“Stay on guard if you must, but I'm not letting you kill anyone if I can help it! I have no idea what’s happening, and as far as I know, this is going to turn me into some kind of murderer!”

“Tch!”

“Besides, she’s my classmate. Aren’t you, _Rin_?”

Rin was surprised for a second, but quickly covered it, standing up and brushing herself down from where she had been knocked sprawling.

“Good evening, Shirou. I wish we had met again in better circumstances, but for now I guess I’ll thank you for sparing me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yes, this was pretty much the same as the original. The only changes made so far is that Saber escaped injury thanks to Shirou’s warning and that Archer took a rather more severe blow than he did previously. Come on, it’s one chapter in. I’m hardly likely to have Kirei or Gilgamesh killed off that fast.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: heheheheh. Reviews? I know I’m not the best author, but any review boosts my morale, even if it’s just a criticism. Like to know people are reading my stuff. I need encouragement to write.
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER: "Lancer and Archer"  
> Preview: ‘Gáe Bolg! Saber’s injury! It was only due to luck that she survived last time, and my changes might have already...no. This is one of the things I can change. I can’t leave this to chance!’


End file.
